[OT] HyperCard and the Interactive Web

[Geoff Canyon]

On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 12:14 PM, Richmond <richmondmathewson at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>   Kids should learn how to think, but in the context of the
>> environment they are/will operate in.
>>
>
> Which may change at any moment; so the more things they are exposed to the
> better
> chance they have to adapt to whatever circumstances present themselves.


People have a limited ability to learn. We can't expose them to everything.
So to whatever extent possible, we should endeavor to expose them to 1. The
unchanging fundamentals 2. What is current/coming next, as we can identify
it.

The command line is neither of these. The unchanging fundamentals of
computers are things like algorithms, logic, and math, not the command
prompt. What is current is the Mac/Windows GUI and the iOS and Android
touch OSes -- again, *unless* you're teaching the small fraction that will
go on to work with computers at that level.

I'll admit that computing is unusual. First, it is a skill, not an
understanding. So unlike Math, for example, where the primes we deal with
today are the same primes Euclid dealt with, the field of computing is
ever-changing. And unlike, say, auto repair, it is changing incredibly
rapidly. But just like in auto repair, it is unnecessary to learn about the
specifics of the Pierce Arrow or the Stutz Bearcat in order to understand
how to service a Smart Car, it is unnecessary to learn how to program a
PDP-11 in order to understand how to use Google Docs.

Responding to something else you've said, I'm not against teaching
programming as a way of teaching kids to reason -- but is it the most
effective way? If not, then we're just being curmudgeonly to suggest it.

Finally, I should point out that by your logic, before kids get their hands
on one of those new-fangled command-line machines, they should have to
master the art of a time-share computer, of punched cards, and of machine
language (on at least a few different architectures, to be sure they fully
grasp it).